Is Qwen Max better than GPT-4.1 for coding?

Qwen Max scores 68 overall vs GPT-4.1's 80. GPT-4.1 has stronger benchmark performance, but pricing also matters — Qwen Max costs $1.60/M input vs $2.00/M for GPT-4.1.

Which is cheaper: Qwen Max or GPT-4.1?

Qwen Max is cheaper per million input tokens at $1.60/M vs $2.00/M.

What is the price-performance ratio of Qwen Max vs GPT-4.1?

Based on benchmark scores, Qwen Max costs $0.024 per score point while GPT-4.1 costs $0.063 per score point. Qwen Max offers better value.

Qwen Max vs GPT-4.1

Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026

Qwen Max

Qwen

Qwen's most powerful model. Strong reasoning and coding capabilities.

Input	$1.60/M
Output	$6.40/M
Context	32K tokens
Best For	Complex reasoning, advanced coding
Benchmark	68/100

GPT-4.1

OpenAI

Updated GPT-4 generation with improved instruction following and reduced hallucination. Better coding accuracy than GPT-4o.

Input	$2.00/M
Output	$8.00/M
Context	128K tokens
Best For	Production coding, API development, complex instructions
Benchmark	80/100

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.

Benchmark	Qwen Max	GPT-4.1	Leader
Overall Score	68	80	GPT-4.1 leads by 12pts
SWE-bench Verified	62	76	GPT-4.1 leads by 14pts
LiveCodeBench	70	82	GPT-4.1 leads by 12pts
HumanEval	86	94	GPT-4.1 leads by 8pts
BigCodeBench	54	68	GPT-4.1 leads by 14pts

Cost Comparison by Scenario

Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.

Scenario	Qwen Max	GPT-4.1	Savings
Small Script (1K lines)	$0.25	$0.31	Qwen Max saves $0.06 (20%)
Medium Feature (10K lines)	$1.84	$2.30	Qwen Max saves $0.46 (20%)
Large Project (50K lines)	$9.20	$11.50	Qwen Max saves $2.30 (20%)
Code Review (5K lines)	$0.44	$0.55	Qwen Max saves $0.11 (20%)

Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)

Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.

Model	Overall Score	Price per Score Point	Verdict
Qwen Max	68	$0.024/pt	Better value
GPT-4.1	80	$0.063/pt	Higher cost per point

Qwen Max delivers the best value at $0.024 per score point.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Qwen Max

+ Strong Chinese language support
+ Good value
- Less tested on English coding

GPT-4.1

+ Latest GPT model
+ Strong across all benchmarks
- Premium pricing

Verdict

Qwen Max is cheaper at $1.60/M, but GPT-4.1 scores higher on benchmarks (80 vs 68).

Choose Qwen Max for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4.1 when performance matters most.

Compare with Other Models

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic

Anthropic's balanced model for coding and general tasks. Best price-performance ratio in the Claude family.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.66 per medium feature

Claude Opus 4

Anthropic

Anthropic's most powerful model. Best for complex reasoning and challenging coding tasks.

$15.00/M input $75.00/M output ~$23.29 per medium feature

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Anthropic

Previous generation Sonnet. Still excellent for coding tasks at the same price point.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.66 per medium feature

Claude 3.5 Haiku

Anthropic

Fast, cost-effective model for high-volume tasks. Great for code review and simple queries.

$0.800/M input $4.00/M output ~$1.24 per medium feature

Claude 3 Opus

Anthropic

First generation Opus. Highest reasoning capability in the Claude 3 family.

$15.00/M input $75.00/M output ~$20.25 per medium feature

Claude 3 Sonnet

Anthropic

First generation Sonnet. Balanced performance for general tasks.

$3.00/M input $15.00/M output ~$4.05 per medium feature